AL.com is counting down to the 2017 SEC football season on Sept. 2 by presenting the No. 1 player to wear each number 1 through 99 in the conference's history. There are 59 days until the first Saturday of the SEC football season, and the No. 1 59 is Alabama center Antoine Caldwell.

For the 2008 season, Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs was heading into his senior campaign as a two-time All-SEC selection who'd won the Rimington Trophy as the nation's best center and the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the SEC's best blocker in 2007.

But Luigs didn't become a three-time All-SEC first-teamer. Instead, the All-SEC center in 2008 was Alabama's Antoine Caldwell.

Caldwell was the consensus All-American center for the 2008 season, too.

The Crimson Tide had had one consensus All-American over the previous eight seasons. But in 2008, Nick Saban's second season as Alabama's coach, the school produced three, with defensive tackle Terrence Cody and offensive tackle Andre Smith joining Caldwell and starting the flood from Alabama that has produced 26 consensus All-Americans in the eight seasons since.

Runner-up at No. 59: Alabama center Sylvester Croom

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